Category Archive

In my Literature of the Environment course we discuss issues similar to those that we talk about in Food and Sustainability. One reoccurring issue that we discuss is the distance food travels to our plates, a factor that has influenced the growing popularity of “eating local.” Often times food must travel large distances in order to reach us, and the …

For Christmas this year, my brother, a single medical school student, was given a cookbook from my uncle who happens to work at a Barnes and Noble. The cookbook—very popular at Barnes and Noble according to my uncle—was A Man, a Can, a Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make, presented by Men’s Health Magazine. My brother promptly …

Before federal organic standards, organic food was linked to small farms, animal welfare, and sustainability. However, organic has gone mainstream—Walmart being the largest vendor of organic produce in the world today. Local has replaced organic as the fastest growing segment of the retail food market. A.C. Gallo, the president and COO of Whole Foods, explained that consumers’ interest in local …

Anthropology studies the cultural constructions and cognitions that affect environmental values, decision making, human practices (Atran et al 2005). I found “The Cultural Model” article fascinating because it’s an applicable synthesis of various anthropological theories and interpretations of socio-cultural environmental adaption. How people act in, adapt to, and negotiate their relationship with their environment is all linked. To put this …

Tenders restaurant is a Davidson classic that students seek out in search of the perfect hangover cure and parents visit for the perfect afternoon lunch with the kids. The menu is simple and plain, and the food is served quickly , but that doesn’t mean there is a loss of flavor. The company runs on the tenet of fresh food …

Today in class we discussed aquaponics, a food production system that uses fish waste to fertilize plants. Aquaponics simulates an environment that one could possibly find out in the wild, with multiple levels of an ecosystem feeding into each other in order to produce food. These systems range from very small systems to large and complicated apparatuses. As I wrote about …

In class on Wednesday we briefly discussed fish farms and their negative impact on the quality of fish. As fish farming is beginning to take a more industrial form, the animals experience increased stress and therefore their meat is of lesser quality (The Disassembly Line, 21). This is not the only problem with fish farming, however. Over my junior year in …

Why do Americans eat at McDonalds? What comes to my mind is convenience, speed, affordability, and satisfying hunger. However, in 90s Beijing, one ate at McDonalds for modernity, leisure, an enjoyable environment, and socialization. Although fast food is now treated differently in China, why did people in 90s Beijing feel this way about McDonalds? By reading “Of Hamburger and Social …

Urbanization and the role of the military needs drove food to become homogenized, industrialized, and widely advertised. The rise of the urban dwelling and the need for quickly and easily prepared foods led to the need for food as an advertised good rather than a necessity for survival. Advertising food created the the market for industrialized and preprepared food items, …

The market for organically produced foods is growing to sastify a larger demand, but its advancements in sustainability mean that organic farming becomes the new means of production. Research has shown that the techniques used by organic farmers are inherently beneficially for surrounding ecology and may still compete with conventional yields. Starting in the soil, organic farmers need a nutrient …